friday faves

Happy New Year, all! Ok so I am a little late to the game on this one, I’ve been away from the blog for a hot second. We’re already on January 10th. of 2014. Who else still has trouble writing/typing that ‘4’ instead of ‘3’?

Between my job and all of it’s craziness, planning my morning classes, working on a couple of fun side fitness projects (including getting to go around and take classes and evaluate trainers…free fitness, huge score!), gearing up to teach boot camp to Fitbit employees once a week, and getting over one of the worst cases of the flu I have ever had this past week…it’s great to be back pouring my thoughts out to you all! I started the day here at bodyfi, where we ran through a great 30-minute Kettlebell circuit ( you can see it HERE!).

So, random update for the week, I decided that for the month of January, I am going on a 30-day running challenge where I will run every. single. day. Be it one mile, a regular 5-6 miles, a weekend 9-13…every single day. I can proudly say that with the exception of last Tuesday, where I was knocked so hard to the ground by the flu, I’ve been keeping at it! I’m having some on and off again pain with my TFL on the right side (again), but have been spinning and weight training/TRX’ing enough that I am keeping it in check. The foam roller is also my best friend this month. Fingers crossed I can stay healthy, as this is my base for the rest of my Oceanside 70.3 training! That bad boy is coming up at the end of March, yikes!

Well, it’s Friday (TGIF!), so I’m going to call this Fun Favorites Friday. I just love when the Oprah magazine (yes, I browse Oprah in the Safeway checkout…put that judgement away) does this section called “Things I Love”. Oprah’s are more fashion, cooking, and utility focused…these are five random, maybe useful and idea provoking, but mostly fun, things that I personally am just loving right now:

1. Almond Milk lattes. In my effort to eat cleaner and more in line with paleo this month (since let’s be honest, December was a total nutrition fail), I’ve converted my morning treat from non-fat milk to almond milk. Besides, you just feeeeeel better with Paleo. It’s been a little over a week, and I already feel lighter on my feet and better in my clothes. So WHY didn’t anyone tell me about this amazing almond milk wonder before? I seriously get very, very excited every morning in the line at Peet’s. Throw a little sugar-free vanilla in there, along with an extra espresso shot, if you’re feeling fancy. 🙂

2. ‘Soul Cycle’ playlists on Spotify. Yes, Soul Cycle may be a cult following boutique cycling craze (that I personally get on board with from time to time), but you know what? They make great playlists! A lot of the playlists have 30+ songs, so I throw it on shuffle during circuit classes. Insta jam out session! Because sometimes I just don’t have time to manually mix things up in my music section. And because I just love the fact that they remix Lady Gaga’s “Do What U Want” in almost every playlist I’ve followed. That’s thing 2a that I am totally loving…that song!

3. Yurbuds. YOU GUYS. I finally found earphones that do NOT fall out of my ears, I’m not kidding. I found them at Sports Basement this past week. Again, going in there is torture. It’s like making Lucy sit right in front of me while I eat a steak dinner and telling her “sorry, boo.” In this case, I HAPPILY dished out the not-bad-at-all price of $26.00 for these guys. I’m so obsessed, I wear them at my desk at work when I am 100% idle. Go get them now. www.yurbuds.com.

4. The PINK Fitbit Flex band. I’m taking a break from good ol’ black, and it’s true, bright colors DO make you happier! My whole life has done a 180 since I started wearing the pink Flex. Ok, that’s not true. But it’s fun and vibrant and yes I am still drinking that Fitbit kool-aid. 🙂 Put a little pep in your step, people! Also, stay tuned…we’ve got Tory Burch partnered products coming out soon, so us ladies can finally wear our trackers with style!

(see, isn’t this fun?)

5. Monday nights (yes, in general). Softball begins! I am playing on a team with some work folk, some random folk. It’s great fun! Also…ahem. The Bachelor is back! Again, judge me all you want, but it’s a guilty pleasure I am more than happy to endulge in. Juan Pablo, keep the craziness coming because I’LL be watching. 🙂

Everyone have a wonderful Friday and an even MORE wonderful weekend! I’m off to Lake Tahoe to celebrate the birthday of one of my best friends (since we were the tender age of 3) with some skiing, hot-tubing, night-time fun, and football – Go Niners, and Happy Birthday, Nik!

Cheers to you all, to living with ‘forza’, and to being grateful for every day and for all that we have been given, and have created, in our lives!

I train, and train hard for hard and long events. This blog will give you some insight into these events, my thoughts on preparing for them and other general musings about health, fitness and nutrition. Disclaimer I have no formal qualifications in any of these areas but take an experimental and analytical approach to improving my performance. You can also find me on Twitter (@ozwebb) or FaceBook (facebook.com/mark.webb)